New CM9 issues to share

[MT45]

:(
Just bought a new CM9 and thought I'd share some info on an issue I had and corrected with a small effort.

Background for me is that I have many (dozens) of handguns of all types. I have and love an MK40 Elite in stainless and the new PM380. I purchased the CM9 due to size and pocketability.

Broke it down Saturday and cleaned and lubed it. I did not pull the slide apart. Shot it today for first time and first 5 rounds were perfect, followed by lots of troubles, last round went click but no bang and no primer dent? Tried another mag immediately after and same issues but worse. Pulled the slide off and pushed the plunger on bottom to see if the firing pin would move in the striker tunnel - it would not without significant force.:mad:

Was about return to Kahr but I just had to know what the issue was . . . so I dissasembled the slide and removed the firing pin. I used a cue tip to remove the 2 pieces of silver metal that you see in the attached picture. One was round and looks like the scrap piece from the slide when the CNC machine drill the access hole in the firing pin/striker tunnel - the other is just a small scap of similar metal material.:confused:

Re-assembled the slide and gun and now all appears to work perfectly (not surprisingly the striker moves better in the tunnel without the extra metal floating around:2rolleyes:)

I will try to hit the range again tomorrow and report back.
Anyone have similar experience?
http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/ae267/T3Enterprises/Metal_KahrCM9.jpg

[RogerP9fan]

Wow, thanks for the great posting with equally good pics.
I can't comment other than to say I just ordered my CM9 and CW45 and all of a sudden I no longer have a warm and fuzzy feeling.
But I really appreciate you making us aware of this issue which I'm glad was easily resolved through your own thinking and efforts.

[CJB]

Curious.... got a magnet? See if they're steel? Do primers have steel in them?

[RogerP9fan]

How could pieces of the primer get into the slide internals?
The OP thinks it's left over metal from the machining process. WOW

[MT45]

Great question on the magnetics - tried both pieces and they both jumped onto the magnet. Not sure if primers are magnetic or not??

[OldLincoln]

I doubt those would have flushed out with Jocko Spray. I think new guns should be torn down including the detail upper so you know what you have. Mine didn't misfire but eventually I did a detailed and found stuff in the striker channel. Torn down a few times since and not even a spec found.

[RogerP9fan]

I doubt those would have flushed out with Jocko Spray. I think new guns should be torn down including the detail upper so you know what you have. Mine didn't misfire but eventually I did a detailed and found stuff in the striker channel. Torn down a few times since and not even a spec found.Not a bad idea at all.I'm gonna do that for both my new Kahrs when they arrive.
Jocko spray LOL

[MT45]

Agreed and I normally do just that - a quick tear down can solve a lot of probs. For whatever reason I did not this time - lesson learned

[RogerP9fan]

Is the tear down of the Kahr slide easy to do? Anybody got any step by step and/or pics? :)

[MT45]

Good youtube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi3VFRll2L4

[Bawanna]

http://kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?t=197

Here you go. It's not difficult and down right easy the second or third time. Watch for flying springs, make sure the extractor plunger is completely pushed in and use the coat hanger thingamajiggy and you'll do fine.

[MT45]

That post is extremely helpful - especially the coat hanger trick:crazy:. Would have saved me tons of "flat blade screwdriver" time if you know what I mean!

[Bawanna]

I've often thought how much easier things would be if we were born with 3 hands sometimes. Simplify things alot. Might make us look kind of weird but who can really define weird.

[RogerP9fan]

LOL Thanks alot guys...helping us Kahr newbies and returning Kahr newbies. Real good stuff.

[CJB]

Just tried sticking some of those REALLY STRONG hard drive magnets to a few different ammo types. None of it seemed to have any pull with the magnet whatsoever. That suggests manufacturing (or some oddball Wolf ammo steel primer?)

[jocko]

guarantee u just spraying in the striker channel would not have cleared that stuff. That definitely is left over machine crapola. Normally though one can clean through the striker channel and it should be OK, when it acts up, then I would recommend a full teardown. I feel alittle reluctant to tell anyone to completly tear down the striker channel, as it should be totally unnecessary but in this case it had to be done. He was very wise to do this and not send it back to kahr, Hell they might have even missed it to . Not sure they think those striker channels can have any stuff in them, which we know they do. Once cleaned right, that channel will stay that way. That is one amazing chunk of metal in that channel. Ifit was maching residue, I doubt a magnet wouldhave worked as stainless, normally doesn't attach itself. Most primers are copper based.

RogerP9 fan, I sure wuold not let that make me feel uncomfortable, as that is the first issue we have seen with the cm9 and actually it was an in house solveable issue,not really a defective gun..

[MT45]

Just back from the range and gun runs perfectly!
30 rounds of Federal 115 Grain factory (6 mags)
12 rounds of my own reloads (115 grain over 5.7 grain of Power Pistol)
7 round of Hornady Critical Defense 115 grain
12 more rounds of reloads as above

Not ONE issue or problem:)

First target shot at with the Federal is in the picture - 6 rounds that you could cover with a 50 cent piece (7 yards).

Very pleased with ability to hit with it, soft recoil, accuracy and, of course, the light weight and pocketability that goes without saying. I'm lovin' it!:D
http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/ae267/T3Enterprises/P1090568b.jpg

[MT45]

Just noticed what appears to be a cutout or nick in the rail insert on the left side? It does not look damaged as the edges of the nick are smooth - like it's been there since day one. Anyone else seen this??

Think it will cause an issue down the road - I'm inclined to leave it as is and not worry about it

http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/ae267/T3Enterprises/P1090575bb.jpg

Close up from underneath

http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/ae267/T3Enterprises/P1090576b.jpg

[CJB]

That "cutout" notch an index mark for the folks who do the polymer frame molding, its there by design.

[MT45]

Thanks for the heads up on the "notch" - no need to be concerned at all

[mightymouse]

So far Kahr has produced a nearly flawless batch, but a few will need tweaking. As another with a less than perfect CM9, once in a while it might take a bit of effort to get them shooting right.
After a bit of initial frustration, I've got mine running flawlessly and wouldn't trade it for any other 9mm out there regardless of price. Well worth my minimal effort. Glad you got yours worked out and Kudos for fixing it yourself.

[RogerP9fan]

Kudoes from me too man. Good investigating, problem finding and problem solving. Thanks again for the great posting/pics.

[jocko]

Thanks for the heads up on the "notch" - no need to be concerned at all

want to go to the kahr webb site and hit n their FAQ FREQUENTALY asked questions. It will help you understand yourkahr even better. That notch in the front ral is discussed and what CJB told u is correct. Hopefully u have read your manual well as there are some REAL DO'S statedin there that you should follow...

[jocko]

So far Kahr has produced a nearly flawless batch, but a few will need tweaking. As another with a less than perfect CM9, once in a while it might take a bit of effort to get them shooting right.
After a bit of initial frustration, I've got mine running flawlessly and wouldn't trade it for any other 9mm out there regardless of price. Well worth my minimal effort. Glad you got yours worked out and Kudos for fixing it yourself.

one wonder with the peace of metal he took out of the striker channel, how in the hell ever kahr could have fire tested the gun. They really need to do a better job of cleaning that striker channel before it leaves the factory. Kahr should not expect a new owner to have to completely field strip his gun to make sure they got all their crapola out of it. A cursory cleaning and lubing IMO is all that is needed. Evidently this doesn't hold true all the time either.

[RogerP9fan]

Like you said jocko, this is the first you've ever heard of this....must be extremely rare..I just hope it doesn't mean they're rushing to get these new CM9s out to market at the expense of QC and their customers.

[jocko]

if one feels confident about stripping down the striker channel and not loosing parts or springs, then IMO for the first time, maybe one should consider it. I do not think one issue of what this shooter found in his gun is indicatve of what is in most kahrs, as we know it is not as all kahr striker channels are the same and mind u we have seem some real crapola come out of other to but never a chuck of maching metal left over like we seen in this cm9. I am just relunctant t6o advise one to tear his slide completly down to check, as many arenot as gun savvy as some of us, and things as u well know if ur not careful candissappear real fast in taking that slide totally apart. I would strongly advise giving that striker channel a good spray cleaninbg through that clean out hole and if one will even then pull back on that striker and hold it back and then spray through the bnreech face hole, u have now left that clean out hole unrestricted and bigger crude will flow out of that hole, if it is there. This has seemed so far in the past to work . One must travel at his own risk to, and there are some great photo tutorials to show upper slide take down, so if u feel better about doing it, u have jocko's blessing, and then after that proceed to use that clean out hole and u will never have a dirty crapola striker channel again. This has been attested to by all who use that hole. Once the striker channel is totally clean, that clean out hole will keep it that way..

[jocko]

Like you said jocko, this is the first you've ever heard of this....must be extremely rare..I just hope it doesn't mean they're rushing to get these new CM9s out to market at the expense of QC and their customers.

u know their rushing to get these gun out in the hands of the public, look at Ruger with their 380 lcp, in less than 3 years the have made over 700,000 of those little suckers. I would call that a sunami even. They are just going with the percentage numbers over volume numbers and they are hoping that 90% of owners will try first to trouble shoot their issue gun before sending it back.

Not sure kahr is thinkiinbg any different, also that is what quality control is for to except inb this one cm9 owner, the quality control person must have been picking his nose when that slide came past him for inspection:mad:

[Bawanna]

I don't see this incident as any sign of anything pandemic. It's bound to happen from time to time but we've been seeing a perfect track record so far. We were fortunate in this case that the right guy got it and did the right thing and made it an easy fix and all is well.

We know from the past that those striker channels apparently vary. Many have all kinds of stuff blow out the first trip. I took my PM45 apart before I ever even shot it just for that reason, to see if there was junk left behind. It' was absolutely pristine with no foreign matter in there at all. It was down right pretty and lightly oiled and pristine.
It was clean and dry when I reassembled.

Some are bound to slip thru but apparently the vast majority are coming out good to go.

[jocko]

words of wisdom from the "great one". Hius words are like a shot of caffine every day.

[slowpoke]

Purely in the interest of the greater Kahr community, today I decided to take one for the team. .. :D
So:
In order to find out whether this was a single problem or a mass production problem I bought a CM9 today and striped down the slide to check for metal in the firing pin safety hole. Nothing there. I gave it the 10 point lube with Hoppe's and took it out and ran a box of 124 AE through it. As expected, it preformed flawlessly.

[RogerP9fan]

Nice! I'm gonna go with your findings and jocko's suggestion and not do a complete breakdown. Got it range ready right now.